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You see a lot of these crit racers and sprinters with quads that look like they're delivering babies. Is it purely genetics or do you have to hit the weights in the winter to build this kind of mass? I've always heard a lot of mixed opinions about lifting weights in the off season, but if that is how these guys are getting such big legs it must be working.

muscular cross section is not representative of high W, W/cda or W/kg. trying to get big legs in order to be faster is counter-intuitive - big legs are sometimes a product of being fast but not necessarily the cause of it.

I rode all winter last year, and did strength endurance workouts in spring, and it inflated my quads a bit. This year I did hill running and shorter interval work, my quads are smaller, but my shape is considerably better.

I spent years as a powerlifter and have big legs probably left over from that, but it doesn't give me anymore power and I do nothing to try to maintain their size (except ride a bike).

One year I decided to lift over the winter. After 3 weeks my pants barely fit. They've always been my fastest growing body part. Even when I was 255 my bench was shit for my weight, but I managed to squat 701 and pull 600.

For crit racers it can be beneficial, especially for sprints and short anaerobic efforts. However, for longer efforts big legs have little to no effect. Hell, look at the Schlecks. They have chicken legs yet they still have an incredible threshold power (400+watts). Unless you live in a very flat area that is decided by sprint finishes (or you wish to target crits exclusively), there are better ways of training.

That said, big legs like the UHC blue train is likely caused by a combination of crits plus weights in the off season.

Bike racing is not alleged strength it is aerobic if it was all leg strength you'd see a track sprinter winning everything on the road. Chris Froome nor Bradley Wiggins have leg strength but their aerobic levels are higher than anyone's you do not need good aerobic levels to be a sprinter

I have big quads , I have the build that if I walk past a squat rack or bench press I bulk up. I wish I was 75 kilo and a decent climber .. Im not I struggle However I can sprint It's a pain .. cant buy jeans off the rack most "sales" at bike shops fit you guys would I trade if i could .. yup

Not as big as Greipel, but yes, he does have 'big legs'. Cavendish's ability to win comes down to three advantages, really:-He has a remarkably powerful kick, and when timed right, he can accelerate so quickly he ditches anyone on his wheel.-He gets low. Really, really low. Lower = more aero. Only Bouhanni might get as low as Cavendish does, but Bouhanni lacks the powerful kick and rarely has an organized train to lead him out well enough.-He tends to have consistent, really good trains from race-to-race or stage-to-stage compared to his peers.

Went out this morning for a blurt with some whippets ..... I gt dropped on most hills where they flew up and over .... caught them by the bottom of the decent , pulled the front for most of the time .... smashed the sprint to our coffee shop and left them behind by 3-4 bike lengths and they were blowing hard and pedaling in squares On the hills they pull the Mick out of me for blowing hard .... my little bit of payback ... doesn't come often but when it does I relish it

Cav is one for this generation, Robbie McEwen was the freight train for his .... Gripel is my fav although Sagan is a weapon too

phourgenres wrote:You see a lot of these crit racers and sprinters with quads that look like they're delivering babies. Is it purely genetics or do you have to hit the weights in the winter to build this kind of mass? I've always heard a lot of mixed opinions about lifting weights in the off season, but if that is how these guys are getting such big legs it must be working.

I have got big quads that I would like reduced! helps me on the flat..... but not when climbing those hills, burn out so quickly and cant just get the high cadence in..